Inherent to the sport of hunting game animals with bow and arrow is the possible loss of arrows and/or the targeted game animal. In the former case, the loss of arrows is a matter of some expense which the hunter would like to avoid. In the latter case, the loss of a wounded animal is not only disappointing to the hunter, but may be harmful to the environment. It is certainly wasteful, and quite possibly dangerous. Thus, the need for an effective, reliable method of tracking a hunting arrow and/or the animal that the arrow has wounded has been apparent for some time.
Radio transmitting devices have been used for tracking other devices on which the transmitting devices have been mounted. When the transmitting device is transported from place to place, its location can be discovered by an operator following the transmitting device with a receiver capable of indicating the relative strength of the received signal. As the operator with the receiver comes closer to the transmitting device, the strength of the received signal increases. As the operator modifies his direction of travel in such a manner as to continually increase the indication of the strength of the received signal, the operator can eventually discover the location of the transmitting device and, with it, the transporting means on which said transmitting device was mounted.
It has also been known to use transmitting devices for locating arrows used by game hunters. Known prior art devices are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,790,948; 4,421,319; 4,675,683; and 4,704,612. It will be noted that each of these patents discloses a transmitting device which is constructed in combination with a hunter's arrow, i.e., the transmitting device is fixedly secured to the arrow in each of the above disclosures. This feature is a disadvantage since certain modern hunters' bows have the power to drive an arrow entirely through the body of an animal. Accordingly, the known prior art is unable to track an animal wounded by an arrow carrying a transmitting device but which passes through its body.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an arrow/animal tracking device for bow hunters which is releasably attached to the arrow while offering minimal disruption to the arrow's flight and trajectory characteristics.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved arrow/wounded animal tracking device which includes the feature of automatically transferring the attachment of the tracking device directly to the animal struck by the arrow.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a light weight, battery powered device which is energized upon penetration of the arrow into an animal.